University Football Club
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The University Football Club was an Australian Rules Football club in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, originating from the University of Melbourne. The club has existed since at least 1865, when it played in the inaugural Challenge Cup, against teams from Albert Park, Carlton, Melbourne, Royal Park and South Yarra.
During the 1870s, the club played in the Second Twenty's competition. This competition was a lower level than the main one, the South Yarra Challenge Cup.
On 4 October 1907 the eight founding clubs of the Victorian Football League voted unanimously to include the University Club in the league as its ninth team. Richmond Football Club became the tenth team two weeks later. The club's home ground was the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which it shared with the Melbourne Football Club.
The club was not particularly successful, never finishing higher than sixth in the ten team competition, and never playing in a finals series. It finished last in the competition from 1911 to 1914, losing its last 51 games in a row. In total, it lost 87 of its 126 games between the 1908 and 1914 seasons. When World War I broke out, many young men enlisted to fight, leaving the club with far too few players. It withdrew from the League before the beginning of the 1915 season, and quickly disbanded.
Melbourne University has retained some link to football, with an affiliated club, the Melbourne University Blues. The Blues play in the Victorian Amateur Football Association, and have been a perennial power in the highest division of that high-standard amateur competition. Unlike American universities, however, support from the University itself is restricted to the provision of a ground and a subsidy for affiliation fees. The University's football team is not watched or supported to any great extent in the wider university community.
External Links
References
- Kevin Taylor, The Sydney Swans. Allen & Unwin, 1987.
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